Why, that sneaky Zippleback
by FoxtrotTango543
Summary: Hiccup has a brainwave and decides to feed the dragons with baskets of fish instead of a huge communal pile that they will fight over. But when jealousy brews in one dragon who feels they're not getting their fair share of food, mayhem ensues. Contains dragon weight gain. Don't like, don't read.
1. Ideas are formed

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and I never will. All rights go to Dreamworks, who made the movies and the series, and Cressida Cowell, the author of the books. This particular fanfiction, unlike my other HTTYD fanfics so far, is set in the Race To The Edge series.

A/N: Just so this fanfic is easier to read, _italics_ is for when the humans are thinking or to emphasize a word. **Bold** will be used when the dragons are talking to either each other or the humans, so with this logic, the **_bold italics_** represents when the dragons are thinking.

* * *

It was a regular day at the Edge, but nobody was training right now. They'd done so all morning under the watchful and stern eyes of Hiccup and Astrid, and they felt that by now, their dragons deserved a rest and some good lunch inside their stomachs.

"Right, gang, get yourselves over to the stables, we're taking a lunch break," Hiccup instructed, diving downwards on Toothless towards the stables. "More for the dragons' sake than ours, really. It's been a long day."

"Thank Thor, Hiccup," Snotlout complained, angling Hookfang's horns so he followed Hiccup and Toothless. "If Hookfang doesn't get enough energy, his muscles will get smaller. I don't want a scrawny dragon. He'll remind me of you if he doesn't eat enough."

 **"Worry about your own muscles, idiot! And shut up about Hiccup!"** Hookfang snarled. To hide his embarrassment at being compared to Hiccup (nothing against the boy, but he hated being compared to a human on a physical level), he sets Snotlout's boots on fire.

"Argh!" Snotlout yelped, taking his boots off before his feet burned. "Doesn't setting me on fire get old for you, you pig-headed dragon?"

 **"Nah,"** Hookfang answered lazily, setting Snotlout's hands on fire as he gripped Hookfang's horns like a child clutching a toy. Snotlout squealed girlishly, making Hookfang and the other dragons grin. Astrid snickered. **"And if you call me pig-headed again, it won't just be your hands."**

When they get to their stables, the riders take their dragon's saddles off and hang them on the wall for easy access the next day. Fishlegs empties a huge barrel of assorted fish (no eels, of course) onto the floor for the dragons to eat. Hiccup takes this time to see if there was anything that needed to be added and/or improved on or around the Edge.

"Since we don't need to worry about rogue dragons, Dagur, or dragon trappers, let's see if there's anything that could be changed around here. You know, for efficiency, effectiveness, comfort, just make sure to pitch in at least one suggestion," Hiccup announced, catching the ears of all the dragon riders. Soon, ideas were coming in from the other riders faster than a flock of Terrible Terrors carrying messages.

"Hot tub!" Snotlout mentioned, sighing happily at the thought of lying in one for hours at a time. "You can thank the Snot-man for bringing a bit of Vallhalla to the Edge! That's a great way to spend your free time, especially if you bring a lady in there with you!" He winked at Astrid, who recoiled with disgust.

"But a better use of time would be to teach Snotlout the words 'Don't hit on Astrid; Hiccup got to her first'," Astrid replied, smirking. Snotlout's face fell at the blatant rejection and Hiccup bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing.

"Boar pit!" Tuffnut cheered, as Ruffnut high-fived him. "Boy, does that boar pit need some improvements. For example, way more boars so there's more entertainment for the excited, screaming spectators . . . like us, for example!"

"We could always dig more boar pits," Ruffnut sniggered. "That really would be an improvement."

"We need more medical equipment," Fishlegs meekly pointed out, the first sensible suggestion so far. "And more antidotes for poisonous substances. We know that Dagur's men are carrying poisonous arrows now, and our dragons might get hit and become ill."

"A better storehouse for food," Astrid suggested. "The one we've got now is good, but it's in need of some serious repairs to its roof. Besides, Stormfly keeps getting in and stealing chicken at night. We need one that's completely dragon-proof."

 **"Cut it out, Astrid, that's embarrassing!"** Stormfly growled angrily. Toothless stuck his face into the pile of fish in front of him so Stormfly didn't hear him laughing at the livid look on her face. His head emerged from the pile with a mouthful of fish so big he can't fully close his mouth. He also had a few on his head, making Stormfly giggle. After swallowing the fish slowly so he didn't choke to death, Toothless lowered his head to let the fish roll off it and caught them with his long, wide tongue. He was about to keep eating, but his sharp hearing picked up on an argument between Barf and Belch and a disgruntled Hookfang. He steeled himself in case it became more than just a verbal argument. More often than not, he had to break them up before things got ugly.

 **"This is ridiculous,"** Hookfang growled, claiming a large pile of fish for himself. **"You don't need twice as much fish because you have two heads. You still share a stomach, and all that fish is going to the same place!"**

 **"Yeah, but each head must be fed separately,"** Belch argued. **"If there's only one pile, we'll end up fighting over it."**

 **"And when we fight, explosions happen! So watch out!"** Barf warned.

 **"I know that you don't want just one pile, but that doesn't mean you need enough fish for two dragons!"** Hookfang countered, bringing up a valid point. **"Take enough fish to feed one dragon and divide it in half, if you have to! I'm sure you don't need that much, anyway!"**

Barf was about to let off a stream of foul-smelling, flammable green gas, but Belch stopped him. **"Barf, stop. Hookfang won't understand anyway."**

 **"Are you saying I'm dumb?"** Hookfang snarled.

 **"Possibly,"** Barf replied, with a smirk. That was all it took for Hookfang to aim a stream of fire at the Zippleback, who growled at him and caused an explosion strong enough for the walls to shake. This explosion was what made the humans in the room straighten up and take notice . . . literally.

"What's happening?" Hiccup shouted, over the noise of explosions and splintering wood beams that were supposed to go on the fire. Then he saw the fight. "Oh, no, no, no! Hookfang! Barf! Belch! Enough!" Toothless abandoned his lunch when he heard the commotion and went to break up the fight by dragging Hookfang close to the door. Stormfly took Barf and Belch to the other side of the room, and the Night Fury caught her hissing that if they dared to try that with her fish, she'd kill them. He smirked at the threat. Typical Stormfly.

 **"What were you thinking?"** Toothless asked Hookfang. **"It's only fish, and you're both getting a meal. There's no need to argue."**

 **"Didn't you hear them?"** Hookfang fumed. **"They had the nerve to tell me that because they had two heads, they needed more food than anyone else. Then they tried to say that I was dumb and wouldn't understand. How dare they?"**

 **"Hookfang, calm down,"** Toothless cautioned, blocking Hookfang's path with his wing as the Monstrous Nightmare tried to attack Barf and Belch again. Hiccup ran over, grateful to Toothless for breaking up the fight before it got any worse. **"Maybe they thought that you wouldn't understand because you only have one head, and they have two."**

"Thanks, bud," Hiccup whispered, before using a sterner, authoritative tone of voice on the errant dragons. "You two know not to fight in here, and not to start fires or explosions inside. Back to your stables, the both of you, and you're staying in there until you've calmed down!" Turning to Snotlout and the twins, he orders, "Keep your dragons away from each other, or the fight will start all over again."

"Come on, Hookfang," Snotlout muttered, slightly embarrassed that he had to lead a grown dragon away to his stable like a parent taking their child to their room. The twins dragged Barf and Belch out a few minutes later, although there was some disagreement as to which route they should take to get to the stables, meaning that Barf and Belch felt like they were being ripped in half.

Hiccup busied himself with cleaning up the mess the dragons had caused while fighting. "Man, I bet those dragons would just love to have their own special pile of fish," Hiccup muttered. Then he had a genius idea and literally dropped everything (in which case, it was the broom he was using to clean up). "That's it! To stop fights about fish, I'll make sure the dragons have separate baskets of fish that they get to keep for themselves!"

"That's a great idea, Hiccup!" Astrid encouraged. "Maybe we should fill it with the sort of foods our dragons like the best, so there aren't any mix-ups!"

"And maybe we can paint labels on them, too!" Fishlegs chimed in. "I'd say a dot about the size of the palm of your hand that matches the dragon's scales should act as a fairly good code as to which basket goes to which dragon."

"Hey, what are you all talking about and why doesn't it involve me?" Snotlout asked arrogantly as he pushed his way past the twins. "And why's Fishface babbling on about dots and baskets? I demand answers!"

"Yeah, fill us in, Hiccup! I have a dragon too, you know!" Tuffnut shouted. "You can't see him because he's in his stable calming down after a fight, but you know I have one! Now, what were you talking about?"

"You don't have a dragon, you have _half_ a dragon, and I got the other half!" Ruffnut disagreed. They were about to fight, but Hiccup stops them just before he was left with an even bigger mess to clean up after. (Like human, like dragon, apparently.)

"We were talking about getting the dragons their personal baskets of fish so they don't fight over it and set the Edge on fire," Hiccup explained.

"Ha! I knew being around Hookfang and I would spark your creativity, Hiccup! You remember that when you become chief!" Snotlout cheered. Astrid and Fishlegs rolled their eyes. If a sentence could be used to describe the looks on their faces, it would probably be "Nothing ever changes with that guy".

"Hey, Hiccup? Can I be in charge of putting the fish into the baskets?" Tuffnut volunteered. "How hard can it be, anyway? It's just fish."

"Look, bro, that's a two-person job, and everyone knows that two is better than one," Ruffnut grinned.

"Tuff, Ruff's right. If you do it on your own, it may not be done in time and you'll get tired easier and quicker. Both of you can do it," Hiccup decided. The twins cheered, and headbutted each other.

"Hiccup, it's great having this rule in place, but when does it start?" Fishlegs asked.

"Tomorrow at breakfast," Hiccup answered. "It'll make it easier for them to get used to it that way."

"So, all those in favour, raise a hand," Astrid announced. Everyone raised a hand, and Astrid counted them. "I guess that's everybody," Astrid said after a while.

"This is going to work out great," Fishlegs chimed enthusiastically.

* * *

Meanwhile, over at the stables, it was a fairly quiet place, for both good and bad reasons. Hookfang was sleeping his anger away, so you could hear content snores coming from his stable. That was the good kind of silence. The type of silence Barf and Belch had was also quiet, but not in a good way. Even the faintest noises seemed to become louder, like the dripping sound of a leaky bucket, or the hooting of night owls. This was the sort of quiet you got when an angry and vengeful person (or in this case, dragon) is left alone with nothing but their thoughts for company. And nothing good ever comes of that, believe me.

 **"This shouldn't have happened to us,"** Barf ranted, pacing around the stable angrily. **"We need more food than any of them! We deserve more food than them!"**

 **"But how do we get it?"** Belch asked. **"We tried just taking it, and look where that got us."**

 **"We'll think of something,"** Barf comforted, gritting his teeth. **"Don't you remember that Hiccup was talking about making some changes with our food as we were being led away? He said he was doing it so we wouldn't fight."**

 **"Yeah, and there was a vote taking place,"** Belch recalled. **"Let's ask Toothless or Stormfly about it in the morning. They'll know all about it and will be happy to talk to us. Until then, let's catch some sleep."**

Soon, quiet, satisfied snores can be heard from Barf and Belch's stable. The bad silence doesn't seem so bad now.


	2. Plans are made

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and I never will. All rights go to Dreamworks, who made the movies and the series, and Cressida Cowell, the author of the books. This particular fanfiction, unlike my other HTTYD fanfics so far, is set in the Race To The Edge series.

* * *

The next day at sunrise, Ruffnut and Tuffnut received an early-morning wake-up call from Hiccup, who is alone this particular morning, as he couldn't rouse Toothless in time. (A dragon needs his sleep.) "Hey, Ruff? Tuff? Wake up! You have work to do, remember? You're filling the dragons' baskets for breakfast!"

"Wait, what?" Ruffnut yawned, as she rushed to meet Hiccup at the door. "Tuff, wake up!"

Tuffnut woke up and rushed to his room (the twins shared a hut, but they had separate rooms for privacy's sake) and once the daily early-morning scuffle was over and done with, they were both ready to start the day and raced past Hiccup with speed and energy neither of them knew they had.

"Sorry we're late, Hiccup!" the twins chorused, as they ran to the storehouse. Hiccup didn't even have the time to thank them, they were going so fast. He simply nodded and walked back to his hut. However, what nobody knew was that they'd accidentally woken up their dragon.

 **"What's going on?"** they chorused, looking around them. Barf and Belch heard their riders leaving, but didn't know what direction they went in. Wordlessly, a mutual agreement was met that they go and look for their humans whilst also finding out why Hiccup had changed their mealtime routine.

They'd searched the entire Edge for the twins, and so far, they had nothing. Not a hint of greasy, long, blonde hair could be seen and their voices weren't heard. They were a scale's width away from giving up and joining the other dragons or possibly going back to sleep, but that's when they had a stroke of good luck. They'd found Ruffnut and Tuffnut hauling a overflowing net full of fish into the storehouse, while six baskets lay outside the entrance; five empty, one filled to the brim with rocks. They greeted their riders with an affectionate growl, and went to see if they were all right. Tuffnut seemed to be fine, but when Barf saw Ruffnut was struggling with a large shovel (presumably to shovel fish into the baskets), he took it from her, holding it with his mouth so Ruffnut could massage some life into her numb fingertips.

"Aw, thanks, Barf," Ruffnut cooed happily, rubbing Barf's jaw in that special 'sweet spot' he loves so much. She then turned around and (with the same hand that she'd used to rub Barf's jaw, mind you) smacked Tuffnut across the face. "Why didn't you do that, bro? This is a two-person job!"

"You never asked!" Tuffnut cried, rubbing the side of his face, which was quickly turning red. "Stop, Ruff! We have a lot of work to do, remember? If we don't do it, Hiccup will kill us!"

"Oh, yeah," Ruff remembered. "We have to put all these fish into these baskets," she gestured to six baskets behind her in the hopes that Barf and Belch would understand better, "and then they have to stay there until the Thunder-Ear is sounded for breakfast. Then the other dragons take their baskets and fly them over to the Edge's clubhouse for breakfast."

"Hey, while we're at it, why don't we show them which baskets are for which dragon?" Tuff added. "Meatlug's has a brown dot and is stuffed with rocks (less for us to do), the one with the red dot is Hookfang's, Stormfly's is light blue, Toothless's dot is black and your ones are green. Fishlegs said something about the colour of the dot matching the colour of the dragon. Or was that Hiccup? I don't know; I wasn't there for most of it, and when they start one of their geeking out sessions about dragons, it makes me glad I wasn't there."

Barf and Belch nodded in understanding, and went to help them by sending empty baskets to the twins when they were done filling another one with fish. Thanks to the Zippleback's help, the twins got their work done quicker.

"Aw, thanks, you two," Tuffnut thanked, as he and Ruffnut scratched the 'sweet spot' on their respective jaws. "Shame we can't leave, though. Hiccup said yesterday that the storehouse would have to be supervised so wild dragons wouldn't get in and steal all the fish." Barf and Belch had an idea when Tuffnut said that. If the phrase 'set a thief to catch a thief' was really true, then didn't that mean you could set a dragon to guard a storehouse against other dragons? With that, they began nudging the twins out through the door, much to their confusion.

"What are you doing?" Tuffnut asked, trying to get back in. "We have to be here! Hiccup's orders! If we're not here, he'll kill us!"

"Are you nuts?" Ruffnut hissed, a plan forming in her sleep-deprived mind. "Clearly our dragon is trying to tell us that we can go home and they'll guard the storehouse for us! Besides, Hiccup said it had to be guarded, but he never said we had to do it." Elated, Ruffnut hugged Barf, her half of the dragon, then Belch. Tuffnut did the same, but he hugged Belch first, then Barf. Then they left, talking about a lie-in and how good it would be to catch up on lost sleep.

 **"I can't believe that went so well,"** Belch finally said. **"Now, let's sort out that food problem we've been having. We don't get anywhere near enough for our daily needs."** The "daily needs" Barf and Belch felt they were entitled to were more snacks, bigger meals and less work. One time, Barf and Belch ate the fish that was supposed to be divided up between all the dragons, and everyone had to go hungry that day. All the dragons tried to attack them at least once (except Meatlug, who'd had a basket of rocks set aside for her by Fishlegs and so didn't give a damn about it), but they didn't care. All they remembered was that eating that much food was great. (They also remembered choking on one of the bones in Stormfly's much-loved chicken, but that was quickly forgotten.)

 **"Maybe we can take some fish from the other dragons' baskets,"** Barf suggested, but he retracted it instantly. **"No, we mustn't. They're our friends. We can't and mustn't steal food from them. And if we did, we'd have to deal with Toothless and Stormfly, and neither of them are stupid. We'll be caught out, because we've already done it once before."**

 **"You're right,"** Belch admitted. **"But there's still loads of fish in that net. I'm positive the twins won't notice if we have just a little bit of it."**

What they thought was 'a little bit' turned out to be almost 1/3 of the remaining fish in the net going from fishing net to gullet to gut. Neither of them noticed just how much fish they'd consumed until they felt a wave of pain in their stomachs as the indigestion hit them. Confused, they checked underneath them to see if they were sitting on anything sharp, but ended up spying the now considerably lighter net. The partners-in-gluttony moaned, both from the stomach-ache and their own stupidity for not watching how much they'd eaten, but neither would admit the latter reason for the sake of their pride.

 **"Owww, stomach ache sucks,"** they moaned in unison, laying down on the ground as if they were sick. **"Maybe a quick flight will help."** So they flew around the storehouse four times, and landed just outside of the storehouse. It helped a little, but there was still the feeling that they had been stabbed in the stomach.

 **"At least we still have some time until the horn goes for breakfast,"** Belch says, not sure if he should be comforting Barf or himself. As if the pair was being punished for their greed by the gods, the horn went off. Its deafening blast rang in the Zippleback's ears as they cover their heads with their wings. The twins burst into the storehouse and pretended that they were making sure Barf and Belch were helping them properly. Once they were satisfied nobody was watching, they relaxed.

"We owe you one, you guys," Tuffnut croons, as he motions to the two baskets with the green dots on them. "How about we get you a nice big snack after breakfast to pay you back, huh?" Barf and Belch preened, and lazily swept a wing over what was let of the fish so the twins saw no evidence of their gluttony. Just then, Hiccup and Toothless flew in.

"Thanks for doing this, you two," Hiccup thanked, as Toothless swooped in to take his basket. "The others should be here soon. Oh, and how long have Barf and Belch been here?"

"They went looking for us," Ruffnut clarified, oblivious to their dragon's ulterior motive that had been spawned by greed. "Hey, since taking two baskets is a hassle, can our dragon have breakfast here?" Hiccup nodded, got onto Toothless' back and flew off with his basket, neither of them noticing the paltry amount of fish left inside the net. Stormfly and Astrid were quick to fill the empty space that Hiccup and Toothless had just vacated.

"Which one is Stormfly's? She's really hungry today," Astrid demanded, walking past every basket until she spied the familiar blue dot on one of them. "Oh, there it is! Thank you!" She was about to leave, but Fishlegs and Meatlug blocked her path. "Hey!"

"Sorry!" Fishlegs squeaked, as Meatlug hastily made room for the females. "There's yours, Meatlug! I made it just for you! It's got all your favourites in it - granite, limestone, and chalk."

 **"Yes!"** Meatlug cheered, flying just a little faster at the thought of it. **"Breakfast, here I -WHOA! What was that for?"**

"Watch where you're flying, Fishface!" Snotlout yelled as he flew in with Hookfang. "That one's ours, and we're taking it. See ya!" Once Hookfang and Snotlout were out of earshot, Barf and Belch had some questions to ask.

 **"How did nobody notice?"** Barf mused. **"It's like the rest of them don't even care how much fish is in the net so long as their dragon's basket is full!"**

 **"That means two things,"** Belch said wisely, although the words that came out of his mouth next were anything but. **"It means we won't be caught, and we'll finally get the fish we need."**

 **"Agreed,"** Barf said, sticking his head into his fish as Belch did the same.

The other dragons, who were at the clubhouse, were confused about why Barf and Belch weren't eating with them. This was unlike the resident Zippleback they all knew, who absolutely loved breakfast . . . along with lunch, dinner and any snack they could tempt out of the twins between meals. (Most dragons had a big appetite, at least they knew when to stop. Barf and Belch would eat until there was nothing edible left.)

 **"Where have Barf and Belch and the twins gone?"** Toothless asked. **"I saw them in the storehouse earlier, but they haven't made it down here yet."**

 **"I'm guessing they've found out how to solve their 'we don't get enough food' problem and started stealing from the storehouse?"** Hookfang muttered, sarcastically. He had no idea how accurate he really was.

 **"Who could they have learned that from?"** Stormfly innocently asked, as she stared down at her breakfast. Toothless rolled his eyes. Hookfang accidentally-on-purpose buried his face in his fish so he didn't have to answer her. Stormfly grew angry at the boys. **"Why aren't you thinking about it?"**

 **"We are thinking about it! It's just that judging from what I heard Astrid say yesterday, I wouldn't be surprised if they learned how to do that from you,"** Toothless replied, making Hookfang laugh so hard he almost choked on his fish. Stormfly was furious, but by the time she'd thought of a reply, Toothless was eating his fish like nothing had happened, playing the part of Hiccup's sweet, loyal dragon who wouldn't harm a fly.

 _ **Damn that Night Fury and his big mouth! Why can't he just shut up?** _Stormfly thought, as she settled down to eat, occasionally glaring at Toothless for having so much nerve.

"Good to see that my idea is working," Hiccup said happily as he waltzed into the clubhouse. "The amount you were given should be fine until lunch, no fights so far and easier to clean up! This is one of my better plans, for sure!" Toothless was happy for his human, who felt truly triumphant about the whole thing. Hookfang, on the other hand/paw/claw was rather annoyed at Hiccup for interrupting breakfast, and swept his legs out from under him with his tail. A muffled "Oww" could be heard as Hiccup got back up.

 **"Finally, he shut up!"** Hookfang mumbled, talking with a mouthful of fish in his face (somehow). **"I'm trying to eat, if you don't mind!"** A pissed-off Toothless waited until his mouth was empty and aimed a plasma blast into it as Hookfang yawned tiredly. (The blood-red Monstrous Nightmare had planned to have breakfast a little later . . . like about noon.) The Monstrous Nightmare coughed, emitting smoke every time he opened his mouth or simply breathed.

 **"What was that for?"** Hookfang choked.

 **"Hookfang, make sure to remember these wise words,"** Toothless advised, sounding more patient than he felt. **"Nobody annoys Hiccup but me and Astrid. Not you."**

Humbled, Hookfang nosed around for more fish, only to realize that it was empty. He'd eaten it all and he hadn't even noticed. He swallowed a yawn when Snotlout came into the room, because after an early morning and all that fish, he felt slightly tired. "Come on, Hooky, we've got a hot tub to dig out, and it takes muscles like ours to get the job done," Snotlout bragged, dragging the Monstrous Nightmare out of the room. Or at least he tried to drag Hookfang out of the room. Remember how big Hookfang is compared to Snotlout, the shortest, squattest member of the gang thanks to Mother Nature/karma for all the mean things he'd done to Hiccup.

 _ **Wow, this must be really embarrassing for you, Snotlout,**_ Hookfang thought, smirking slightly. **_Boasting about your muscles so everyone can hear, but when you try dragging me out of the room, I don't move a claw's length away from where I sat down. That's what you get for making a tired dragon work when he'd rather sleep._** Eventually, Hookfang got tired of watching Snotlout struggle and simply picked him up and walked out, much to his rider's embarrassment.

"Sometimes, bud, Snotlout not listening is the funniest thing that could ever happen round here," Hiccup whispered. Then in a louder voice, he said, "Toothless and I have to go and take notes of the different herbs we can find on the Edge to heal dragons hit by Dagur's poison arrows. We'll be back by lunch."

Collecting herbs? Toothless got up when he heard those words. **"Could be worse, though. I could be stuck repairing the storehouse like Stormfly,"** Toothless muttered under his breath, smiling his trademark gummy smile as Hiccup came back with some charcoal, a sack and a notebook.

"You know, maybe we should just look for the herbs from above," Hiccup mused, causing Toothless to become even more hopeful. Flying was more fun than walking, and this was a bonus. If he was lucky enough to go for another flight after the work was done, he'd have had a perfect day. The pair then flew off to look for herbs.

* * *

Meanwhile, Snotlout was finding that working with a dragon wasn't as easy as Hiccup made it look, especially when said dragon was tired. "Come on Hookfang, can't you set just one thing on fire for me?" Snotlout pleaded. Inwardly, he cursed himself for not listening to Hiccup and begging a dragon to do what was (to them) one of the simplest tasks you could give them. Whatever he'd done to Toothless worked like a charm, but somehow Hookfang was immune to his sweet-talking. In his desperation, Snotlout ripped off a decent-sized branch off a nearby tree and waved it in Hookfang's face. "I'll give you a target to aim at, too. Now just focus on the stick, Hookfang."

 **"I'm focusing on something else, thanks very much,"** Hookfang growled, as he set Snotlout's pants on fire for the third time today. **"This is boring, Snotlout. Why would you need a hot tub, anyway? It's just a hole filled with hot water. Nothing special about it."**

"Aargh!" Snotlout screamed, dropping the stick and jumping into a nearby lake to put out the fire before it got to his skin and caused some serious (not to mention painful) burns. Hookfang, for obvious reasons, chose to sit there and laugh himself silly, believing that this was the best way to keep himself awake and entertained. Snotlout, by this time, was still sitting in the lake, listening to his dragon laugh at him as his water around him bubbled slightly. _Well, he won't be laughing for long,_ Snotlout thought, as a plan formed in his mind. He got out of the lake, retrieved the tree branch and sat down near Hookfang.

"Hookfang, why do you keep setting me on fire?" Snotlout moaned, quickly earning him the dragon equivalent of a snigger. That snigger, in Snotlout's eyes, sealed his fate. He was originally going to go easy on his dragon, but this blatant show of disrespect was too much to bear. He wrapped his arm around Hookfang, making sure both hands have a decent grip on Hookfang's neck. "You aren't going to stop this, are you?" he asked, losing the woe-is-me attitude before you could say your own name. Snotlout had been taught by his father that it was best to get to the point when you wanted something resolved.

 **"Of course not,"** Hookfang smirked, letting his skin heat up enough to not set Snotlout on fire, but for his hand to feel rather warm. Snotlout made the mistake of rubbing his hand up and down Hookfang's neck and burned his fingers a little.

"Well, I'm making this hot tub whether you want to help or not, but I can't do it without fire," Snotlout admitted, "and if you won't give it to me, then I'll just have to take it, won't I?" He lunged for Hookfang's neck, grabs the oversized stick and starts scraping the flammable gel off Hookfang's neck and wings. What he doesn't know (but would definitely exploit as much as possible if he did) is that Hookfang, like most Monstrous Nightmares, was secretly insanely ticklish, especially on his neck, and he was pleading with Snotlout to stop almost immediately. Snotlout mistook his dragon's begging for stubborn annoyance, so he just kept scratching in order to make the most of his dragon's gel coating. He lifted his neck off the ground in an attempt to get rid of Snotlout, but he ended up clinging to him like a limpet clinging to a rock, and the horrible scraping continued.

 **"NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"** Hookfang howled, as Snotlout got to work on the extremely sensitive space where his wings and his back met. Personally, Hookfang saw it as a miracle that Toothless could let a human sit there without collapsing into fits of laughter every time they moved a muscle. Toothless' saddle, with so many moving parts in its design, would be a pretty effective torture device if Snotlout ever decided that his dragon should have one. **"NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOT THEHEHEHEHERE! GET OFF!"**

"So, will you set the stick on fire for me, or do I have to keep this up a bit longer?" Snotlout teased, going from just scraping gel off Hookfang's skin like a spatula to focusing on just one particular spot with one end of the stick. This drove Hookfang nuts, but he still outright refused to admit defeat, least of all to Snotlout. Besides, how humiliating would it be for him if word of this got to the other dragons? A great Monstrous Nightmare that survived the tyrranical Red Death beaten by a mutton-headed boy with a stick? No, he wouldn't let that happen.

 **"NOHOHOHOHOHOT ON YOUR LIHIHIHIHIFE!"**

"Aw, that's adorable," Snotlout cooed, as his devilish fingers massaged the howling dragon's neck, scribbling the sensitive scales underneath his chin just to annoy him. (Scratches under the chin made him feel like a hatchling, and he hated that feeling. Hookfang reckoned Snotlout knew that and was only doing it to add to the torture.) "But you'll have to give in eventually. I know you find this unbearable, and I'm not stopping until either you set the stick on fire for me or I get enough flammable gel from you to fill up the lake I had to jump in. Either way, I will get what I want, and you're going to be helping me either way."

 **"HEHEHEHEHEHELP YOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOU? NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"** Hookfang protested, stifling an embarrassingly high-pitched squeak as Snotlout abandoned his neck completely and itched underneath his dragon's wings, which produced a whole new kind of ticklish hell for Hookfang. **"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**

"Oh, you wanna give in now? Huh? Do ya? Do ya?" Snotlout taunted playfully (as he didn't want to really hurt Hookfang), as he felt his fingers glide as far along the dragon's wings as he could reach with his fingers (making Hookfang envy Meatlug for her shorter wings, who wouldn't find this as bad as he would) and forcing him to flame up, just so Snotlout would stop the horrible torture he was inflicting. Snotlout caught the small spark of a flame on his trusty (or as Hookfang saw it, evil) stick and watched with delight as it became a small, but constant flame, instead of fizzling out like he feared. "See, was that so hard? I'm going to dig out a hot tub, and you can just stay there, got that? I don't need you setting me on fire again. Besides, you don't want me to do that to you again, do ya?" Hookfang didn't reply, too busy recovering from Snotlout's idea of torture to say a word. Eventually, he felt his eyelids drooping, and Hookfang dropped off to sleep, which is what he wanted to do all along.

* * *

Out to sea, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Barf and Belch were catching fish for lunch. "We're getting you a nice, big helping of fish to thank you for guarding the storehouse for us," Tuffnut said, smiling down at his half of the dragon. "It must have been hungry work."

"And our dragon deserves the best," Ruffnut chirped happily. "Now, you stay there while we get the fish. You must be tired after all that work you've done. I'm so proud of you!"

 **"Tired? All we did was eat, and I'm pretty sure we had a nap, too,"** Belch said, confused. **"Why are you lying down, Barf?"**

 **"Because they think we're tired,"** Barf said.

 **"But we're not tired."**

 **"They don't know that."**

 **"I see,"** Belch grinned, then made a pitiful face. **"Please get us some food! We're hungry and it's been ages since we last ate!"** Barf snickered at Belch's pathetic pleas, although they were half-true. Barf and Belch's stomach ache had all but gone and they felt that they could handle some more food.

"Coming!" Tuffnut called happily, as he and his sister dragged a net groaning with fish towards their dragon, who perked up a little, but not too much, since they were supposed to be 'so tired'. "Here you go, misters. Hope you enjoy!"

 **"Wow!"** Belch gasped, breathing in the stench of fish that dragons thought of as heavenly. **"So much fish, and it's all for us! Let's eat!"**

 **"I could get used to this, for sure,"** Barf smiled, as both heads ate heartily and without any regret for any future consequences, convincing themselves that the flight they'd been on meant they needed to refuel on fish badly so they didn't look sickly and weak. If they used the 'tired' excuse enough with the twins, they could get all the fish they wanted, both from the storehouse and the twins' fishing trips. Fish which, in their minds, they very much deserved.


	3. The big reveal

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and I never will. All rights go to Dreamworks, who made the movies and the series, and Cressida Cowell, the author of the books. This particular fanfiction, unlike my other HTTYD fanfics so far, is set in the Race To The Edge series.

* * *

Barf and Belch certainly did get used to their new lifestyle . . . maybe a bit too much. All that luxury living without having to lift a claw to get their food meant they began to gain weight. However, the (considerable) weight piled on gradually, too gradually for the twins to notice at first. However, a whole two weeks later, they finally received an indication that there was something off . . . along with the other riders and their respective dragons.

It started with an innocent comment from Astrid . . .

"Hey, let's go for a race around the Edge!" Astrid piped up, feeling full of energy and wanting to burn it all off doing something fun. "It's been ages since we've done that, and I'm tired of just sitting around!"

"Great!" Hiccup said, already grabbing Toothless' saddle and tailfin as he headed for the door. Toothless had been wide awake since Astrid said the words 'race around the Edge' and immediately made a beeline for the door. "Hey, Astrid, Toothless has given his seal of approval, so I guess we can go."

 **"Quit making jokes, Hiccup!"** Toothless growled, embarrassedly. **"I'm going crazy just staying in one room! It's boring!"**

"Fine, fine, you big baby," Hiccup teased, scratching Toothless' ears. "Where does it start?"

"Where does what start?" Snotlout asked. "It better give me something to do today. I'm bored out of my mind here!"

"Race round the Edge," Hiccup casually answered, making Snotlout grin. "I'm guessing you want in?"

"Heck, yeah!" Snotlout cheered. "I'm so winning this! Prepare to be left in the dust, folks, and that dust will be made by Hookfang and I! Snotlout, Snotlout, oi, oi, oi!"

"A race?" Fishlegs asked excitedly, as the twins trailed in his wake, grinning. "Even I could use a break from the books every once on a while. That, and Meatlug's getting tired of testing out different Gronckle iron formulas."

"Fishlegs wanting to get away from a book?" Tuffnut laughed. "This must be a first, huh?" Fishlegs shot them an angry look that said _shut up now_. Stupid as he was, Tuffnut got the message.

"Uh, if we're having a race, I'll need to get our dragon," Tuffnut quickly babbled, trying to fill the awkward silence after Fishlegs gave him that look. "Barf! Belch! There's going to be a race around the Edge! Get over here!"

That's when Barf and Belch flew in, expecting happy greetings from their friends who hadn't seen them in about two weeks . . . but were met with shocked silence. Dragons and humans alike were staring at the Zippleback with shock. Nobody could believe one dragon could gain so much weight in the space of just two weeks. Both heads were confused. _**Why are they doing that?**_ Barf thought.

 ** _I don't know, but maybe they just haven't seen us in a while,_** Belch replied. (The two heads of a Zippleback can hear each other's thoughts as if they were saying them aloud, which means they can essentially read each other's minds and talk to each other inside their own heads. Pretty cool.)

"Ruff, Tuff, is your dragon all right?" Fishlegs asked. "It's just - he looks different."

"How?" Tuffnut said, taking a quick look at his dragon. "He looks fine to me."

"Barf and Belch are perfectly healthy and they almost never get ill!" Ruffnut yelled, getting in Fishleg's face. "Are you saying that we don't take care of our dragon?"

"What?! No - I just wanted to say-" Fishlegs stammered.

"Good!" Ruffnut yelled, making Fishlegs take a step back. "Come on, misters, we need to get your saddles on so we can go flying." As each twin produced a saddle, both heads lowered themselves so the twins could reach. However, it seemed that the twins' heights wouldn't be a problem.

"What is with this saddle?" Tuffnut grunted, trying to fit it around Belch's neck, which was now considerably thicker after their time of 'luxury living'. "I think it's shorter."

"Same with mine," Ruffnut replied, just as confused as her twin brother was. "You know, maybe we shouldn't have washed them with berry juice and boiled river water. That must have been what made them shrink. Weird, isn't it? They've never shrunk before."

"You clearly don't have enough muscle to do that, muttonheads," Snotlout sneered. "Let me try." After several attempts to force the saddle onto Barf's and then Belch's necks, which they found to be very painful, he gives up and hands the saddle to Hiccup. "The saddle's too small for their dragon. Can you see what's wrong with it?"

After studying the saddle for a few minutes and then trying to place it around their widened necks with no success, he finally concluded. "I see what your problem is. The saddle just need to be let out. I'll do it for you after the race. No big deal."

"But I can't ride Belch without a saddle!" Tuffnut protests. "What do I do for the race?"

"The race can't be that long, Tuff," Snotlout teased. "Unless you're too scared to fly without your precious saddle."

"You're on, Snotface!" Tuffnut growled. "Saddle or no saddle, I'm beating you!"

" _We're_ beating you," Ruffnut clarified. "We have the same dragon, remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Then how about a little wager?" Snotlout bets, fully confident that he'll win now that Barf and Belch have become fatter. "When _I_ win, you two idiots will do my chores for a week. If _you_ win, I'll do your chores and your sister's for a week. Deal?"

"Deal!" the twins agree, each shaking one of Snotlout's hands. Snotlout grinned. He couldn't lose.

* * *

At the starting line, Astrid explained the rules. "We start here, at the clubhouse, then we turn right at Fishleg's topiaries and head for the sea stacks, where I've put four small flags labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4. I've set it up that way so we all know who the last two riders are. From there, you stop at the stables and let your dragons rest up. Winner gets bragging rights and all chores reduced in half, which will be added to the workload of the last two riders. Any questions?"

"Yeah, just one," Tuffnut says. "If we get there, and three riders have been before us, there'll only be one flag left, and there are two of us. Who gets the flag?"

"Sort that between yourselves," Astrid dismisses, getting onto Stormfly. "On your marks . . . get set . . . go!"

The riders take off, Hiccup and Toothless taking the lead with Stormfly and Astrid close behind them. Barf and Belch, however, aren't having much luck.

"Come on, Belch, faster!" Tuffnut goads.

"You can do it, Belch!" Ruffnut encourages.

But amount of persuading could make their dragon fly faster. Barf and Belch, who were completely ignorant of their own weight gain, didn't know what was wrong with them. They felt tired and bloated, looking extremely sluggish as even Meatlug flies faster than them. Exhausted, they took a right at Fishleg's topiaries (or as the twins called them 'fancy-looking bushes') and searched for the flags that were supposed to be at the sea stacks where Astrid left them . . . only to realize that there was nothing there.

"Hey, sis, I thought a flag was supposed to be here," Tuffnut wondered. "What happened to it?"

"Can't be helped, brother," Ruffnut shrugged. "We're having some pretty strong winds today. Must have been blown off the sea stacks. It's probably in the ocean now." (There was barely a breeze to be felt that day.)

"Let's just complete the rest of the race," Tuffnut decided, and so, Barf and Belch's rest was cut short as they slowly flew back to the stables. Maybe there, they'd finally get to rest and eat. It had been a long race, after all.

* * *

"Where in Thor's name could those muttonheads be?" Snotlout muttered. "The race finished hours ago."

"Maybe they're planning a prank or destroying something on the Edge?" Fishlegs suggested.

"We'd have heard that," Astrid discounted. "There are many words you can use to describe them, but quiet isn't one of them."

Just then, the twins flew in on an exhausted Barf and Belch. "Own up, Astrid!" Tuffnut demanded. "Why did you lie to us?"

"Lie to you about what?" Astrid asked.

"You said there would be four flags, but there were obviously three! You, Hiccup and Snotlout took a flag each, leaving Fishlegs, Ruffnut and I flagless!" Tuffnut accused. "Are you trying to humiliate the Thorston clan?"

"They're doing a pretty good job of that on their own," Snotlout muttered.

"Hate to burst your bubble, Tuff," Fishlegs interrupted, "but there's something you should hear. I wasn't left flagless, even if you were. And I should know." Smirking in a manner that was extremely uncharacteristic of him, Fishlegs reached into his pocket to reveal . . . the fourth flag.

"What?" Tuffnut protested, as Snotlout laughed so hard, he had to lean on Hookfang for physical support. (If he didn't, he'd be on the cold, hard floor, making the sound of victory a little less satisfatory.) Hookfang, who knew about the bet, was laughing pretty hard too, but at the twins' dragon more than the actual twins. You couldn't blame the twins for not flying fast, since they couldn't actually fly, and had no wish to be able to fly after the numerous failed Dragon Fly tests they'd witnessed. (Thanks, Hiccup.)

 **"You two must have really slowed down, huh?"** Hookfang sniggered. **"What happened to you? Meatlug beat you, and she's usually the slowest one here! But I guess that's going to change!"**

 **"Hookfang!"** Toothless chided. **"Snotlout won a bet, not you! Shut up!"**

 **"But it's funny!"** Hookfang insists. **"They're slower than everyone but Meatlug, but now even she's beating them! You've been beaten by a girl!"**

 **"And so have you,"** Toothless reminds him. **"Didn't Astrid and Stormfly get the second flag, and it was you and Snotlout who got the third flag? You've been beaten by two girls! Come on, you two."** And with that, Toothless led Barf and Belch away, leaving a speechless and enraged Hookfang behind.

 **"Thanks,"** Barf and Belch chorused gratefully. **"That was embarrassing!"**

 **"OK,"** Toothless said, trying not to accidentally let slip that Barf and Belch had gained a surprisingly large amount of weight, and everyone on the Edge had noticed. **"Anyway, I'd just like to ask you something. Why don't you eat with us anymore? We've been wondering where you'd gone."**

 **"We've been helping Ruff and Tuff fill the baskets of food for your meals,"** Barf explained, as both heads swelled with pride and self-entitlement. **"So we have to eat in the storehouse, as the twins can't get us to the clubhouse in time for breakfast anyway."** In reality, they'd eaten so much fish from the fishing nets they'd collapsed to the floor with a bad stomach-ache, and because the twins thought they were too tired to fly, they ate their meals in the storehouse instead of eating with their friends and turning 4 dragons into a group of 5.

 **"Oh, OK,"** Toothless dismissed, before turning away from the Zippleback, thinking that their story really didn't add up. He then found Hookfang and the other dragons, who were already gossipping about Barf and Belch's sudden weight gain. Stormfly saw him and motioned him over. _**Well there goes any chance of me going unnoticed,**_ Toothless thought. **_Might as well go and talk to them, since I can't get out of it now._**

 **"Hey, Toothless,"** Hookfang called. **"You went over to talk to Barf and Belch, didn't you? Did you see how different they looked after they gained all that weight? No wonder they've become slower!"**

 **"Yes, why?"** Toothless answered, confused.

 **"Do you have any idea why it's happening?"** Meatlug asked. **"I'm worried about them! Maybe they're not gaining weight at all. They could be extremely bloated and the reason they were the slowest is because they're too lethargic to fly their fastest! Oh, I hope they're OK!"**

 **"Meatlug, eating all the food you see just because you can see it isn't an illness,"** Hookfang argued.

 **"Then why are they gaining weight?"** Stormfly asked. **"We know they're getting more food than us, but where from?"** That's when Toothless' eyes went wide.

 **"I should've known,"** he groaned. **"I was talking to them a minute ago, and I should've known it then, but I didn't."**

 **"Should've known what then?"** Stormfly coaxed.

 **"Are you OK?"** Meatlug fretted. That's when Toothless couldn't keep it in any longer, and, in a fashion similar to what Hiccup might do under serious amounts of stress, he blurted it out.

 **"I think I know what happened to Barf and Belch!"** Toothless shouted, quickly looking away from his friends in shame. The outburst shocked the other dragons, since this wasn't like Toothless at all, but it wasn't long until it was silently decided that they wanted in.

 **"Look, Toothless,"** Stormfly encouraged, barely containing the glee in her voice, **"take a few deep breaths, calm down, and tell us everything you know about it, from start to finish. Don't leave out a thing."**

 **"Hookfang was messing with Barf and Belch for being the slowest dragon in the race, and I led them away from him so they didn't fight. Once we were away from everyone, I decided to ask them why they weren't eating with us anymore, and they said that they'd been helping their riders fill our baskets with fish every time we had a meal. They ate in the storehouse because they couldn't get to the clubhouse in time. I think they filled our baskets with fish, and then set about filling themselves with fish, and that's why they look so different!"** All the dragons gasped at this.

 **"How long have you known?"** Meatlug probed.

 **"They only just told me,"** Toothless answered.

 **"That explains everything!"** Stormfly exclaimed, outraged. **"I can't believe those two! That fish is for us, too, and our humans!"**

 **"That reminds me of the first time we noticed they were missing, and I said that they must have been stealing from the storehouse,"** Hookfang reminisced. **"When I said that, I meant it as a joke! I didn't want to be proven right!"**

 **"But there's got to be more to it than that!"** Toothless pondered. All the dragons looked at him curiously. **"If they stole straight from the fish that our riders had stored, or from our baskets, they'd have been caught and punished, so they must have taken from a supply that they expected to be gone, like the fish that was going into our baskets! They filled our baskets with fish, then ate some of the fish that was still in the net so we didn't notice anything odd, and neither did the twins!"**

 **"Toothless, you are a genius!"** Hookfang congratulated. **"But knowing this is all well and good, so if you could figure out a way to stop it before it gets worse, that would be great!"**

 **"Any plan that I come up with may have to involve Hiccup knowing what's happening, as I can tell that he knows Barf and Belch are gaining weight,"** Toothless explained. **"But let's only involve Hiccup and the other humans if we can't stop them ourselves. They're still our friends, and I don't want them to get into trouble."**

 **"Agreed,"** the other dragons chorused.

"Toothless!" Hiccup called from the forge. "Get to the forge! I need you to help me with a few things!"

 **"Well, what do you know? Speak of the Hiccup, and he shall be heard,"** Toothless muttered, as he walked off. **"See you later!"** And with that, Toothless strolled off to the forge, and let himself in through the door.

"Oh, there you are, Toothless," Hiccup breathed, scratching Toothless' neck gratefully. "Can you heat up this block of metal for me? I'll need it to make the saddles for Barf and Belch." Toothless complied, heating the small, palm-sized block of metal until it became red-hot with white-hot edges. "Thanks, bud. Don't know what could have happened to Barf and Belch in the space of two weeks, but it can't be good for them."

 _ **You don't know, but I do,**_ Toothless thought, wracked with guilt for not knowing what to do about it. **_I would tell you, Hiccup, honestly, but if I do, Barf and Belch will be in big trouble and they'll hate me forever._** He was supposed to be a leader, and here he was not knowing what to do like some hatchling, and he hated it. He drowned his worries in the sound of metal pounding metal, and he let that sound wash over him and calm his mind until Snotlout barged in two hours later.

"Hiccup, I need a favour!" Snotlout grunted. "Can you sharpen my daggers for me? Hookfang's been cleaning his claws on them again, and I need them for knife-throwing practice!"

"Fine," Hiccup agreed, "but only if you agree to take these saddles to the twins and make sure to ask them if they fit Barf and Belch properly. They'll get mad if they don't get their saddles back soon. They've been loudly complaining that riding a dragon without a saddle is painful since I took them away to fix. Do you know where they are?"

"They were at the watchtower last time I saw them," Snotlout remembered. "It won't take long for me to find those muttonheads." Snatching the saddles, Snotlout jumped on Hookfang and took off, as Toothless looked at the loudmouthed boy with annoyance.

"Yeah, sometimes I'd like Snotlout to be a little quieter too, bud," Hiccup sighed as he downed tools and sat next to Toothless. It wasn't long until Hiccup's nimble fingers itched at, and eventually started scratching at the Night Fury's neck. Unlike Hookfang, Toothless loved it when his neck was scratched, finding it soothing while Hookfang thought it was too tickly and fought to get away. He purred happily as Hiccup went to the spots near his ears, which sent Toothless into a special type of nirvana.

 _ **Today wasn't so bad after all,**_ Toothless decided, stretching out like a cat as he suddenly realized how . . . tired he was. The race may not have awakened his appetite, but he was a little sleepy. He felt Hiccup slump onto his side and figured he wasn't the only one who could use some rest. Toothless picked up Hiccup by his tunic and decided to take him to his hut. He was dead to the world right now (Hiccup, not Toothless).

 **"You know, they look adorable like this,"** Stormfly mused, as she watched Toothless carefully carry Hiccup back to his hut, deftly opening the door with his tail while balancing a now quietly snoring Hiccup in his jaws.

 **"Did you seriously think Toothless would let Hiccup sleep in a hot, dangerous forge?"** Meatlug chided, before gazing at the touching scene that could make even Mildew, the man who hated dragons more than anyone else on Berk, go "Aww". **"Although it is really cute."**

 **"If it wasn't Hiccup who was asleep, I'd get him to sketch this,"** Hookfang snickered. **"Oh, well, I'll tell him all about it tomorrow. Until then, let's go to sleep."**

 **"Fine,"** Stormfly mumbled, as the three dragons flew off.


	4. Realization

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and I never will. All rights go to Dreamworks, who made the movies and the series, and Cressida Cowell, the author of the books. This particular fanfiction, unlike my other HTTYD fanfics so far, is set in the Race To The Edge series.

* * *

The next day, Toothless flew to the clubhouse like nothing weird had happened the night before (because in his mind, taking your rider back to his hut when they'd fallen asleep was normal), but when he got there, he saw Hookfang, Meatlug and Stormfly were staring at him. Hookfang looked like he was holding back laughter, while Meatlug and Stormfly were staring at him adoringly, like he was the cutest hatchling they'd ever seen. **"Umm . . . are you all right?"**

 **"We could ask you the same question. Was it hard opening a door with your tail?"** Hookfang asked, before he burst out laughing. Toothless didn't know what Hookfang meant until he remembered last night. His eyes went wide with shock when he realized that they knew what he'd done for Hiccup, and he felt the room heating up.

 **"He was fast asleep, Hookfang,"** Toothless answered sternly, trying to hide how absolutely mortified he was. **"I'm not letting him sleep in a forge. He could've hurt himself, and I'm not letting that happen."**

 **"Aww, that's so cute,"** Stormfly and Meatlug cooed, making Toothless stick his head in his basket of fish so he didn't have to talk to them.

 _ **Stop, please,**_ Toothless thought, turning red underneath his scales as Hookfang's hysterical laughter rang in his ears louder than any horn ever could. _ **This is embarrassing.**_ Fortunately, Toothless was saved by the Hofferson, who looked none too pleased that Stormfly hadn't finished her breakfast yet. The day she'd seen Stormfly raiding the storehouse and wrecking the roof, she took it upon herself to set it back to its former state, as well as adding a few improvements.

"Stormfly!" Astrid greeted, startling the Deadly Nadder enough for Astrid to duck as a few spines embedded themselves into the walls of the clubhouse. "Why haven't you finished eating? The storehouse still has repairs to be done! I'll wait for you to eat it all up, and then we'll go!"

 **"Not again!"** Stormfly groaned. **"I thought we'd finished last time."** Sighing, she gulped down her chicken as fast as she could without choking and left with Astrid, wishing that she hadn't stolen so much or caused so much damage to the storehouse. Deep down, she knew she'd try this again, and was only saddened that Astrid was so strict about repairing it.

 **"Wow, Stormfly's got herself into some serious trouble now, hasn't she?"** Hookfang snickered. **"Good thing Snotlout's not as bossy."** Just as he said this, Snotlout marched in.

"Hookfang!" Snotlout shouted, making Hookfang's eyes snap open. "We've got a hot tub to dig out, remember?" Instead of obediently eating and leaving the clubhouse when Snotlout asked for him, Hookfang picked him up with his tail, took his sweet time eating breakfast (it was purely to annoy Snotlout) and left, all while Snotlout was attached to his tail like a Snoggletog decoration. Eventually, that left only Toothless and Meatlug in the room.

 **"It's getting rather lonely in here,"** Meatlug moaned. **"Barf and Belch are eating in the storehouse, Hookfang has to help Snotlout with his hot tub thing and Stormfly's helping Astrid repair the storehouse! It won't be long until you're gone, too, and then I'll be all on my own!"**

 **"That's going to be so boring!"** Toothless sympathized, before an idea took place in his mind. **"Wait a minute. If Barf and Belch are in the storehouse, and that's where Astrid and Stormfly are headed right now, you don't think that-"**

A feminine, high-pitched scream could be heard coming from the storehouse.

 **"They haven't-"** Meatlug began.

 **"They have,"** Toothless answered.

* * *

Today had felt like a good day until Astrid walked in. The twins had got them two nets full of fish as a reward for doing such good work, and then left them in the storehouse 'to get their strength back' with all their favourites on display - cod, haddock, salmon, chicken, veal . . .

Naturally, once they'd finished the two catches of fish, they simply had to taste-test all the food they could see in the storehouse. The humans and their dragons would be eating this stuff, too, and neither Barf nor Belch would let their friends eat food that could make them vomit or anything, so they had to get rid of it the only way they knew how.

 **"Oh, that was soooo good,"** they moaned, slumping to the floor once their feast was over. Spying the emergency water Hiccup kept to put out fires, they used the last of their strength to gulp it all down, and collapsed into a food-induced stupor, happily sleeping their 'breakfast' away. They had no idea what was in store for them . . .

* * *

Astrid's day had been normal before she walked into the storehouse. Or, at least, she tried to walk into the storehouse, only to be stopped by a soft, squishy mass on the other side. _Hiccup's new door-stop may be big and heavy, but it doesn't really work,_ she thought, as she pushed her way into the storehouse. Stormfly watched on curiously. What was holding her rider back?

Astrid sighed with relief as the door finally gave way, and massaged the life into her aching biceps as she strode in . . . and immediately tripped on something long and thick and bumpy. "Stormfly, give me some light," Astrid ordered, as Stormfly summoned a mouthful of sparks to light the blonde's way. The room became brighter, and Astrid could now see that the long, bumpy thing were two pieces of rope that seemed to be attached to a couple of lumpy, green barrels and two thick logs. Astrid cursed herself for not bringing a dagger, and pulled on the tail. Slowly, the twin logs moved, and with a sense of dawning realization, Astrid realized that she hadn't just pulled on a piece of rope, she'd pulled a dragon's tail. When she took a closer look at him, she realized that the dragon was actually Barf and Belch, the twins' Zippleback.

She screamed and rushed out of the storehouse, Stormfly in tow.

Everyone rushed to the storehouse when they heard the scream. Hookfang scooped up Snotlout and took off. Hiccup and Fishlegs rushed to get Toothless and Meatlug so they could see what had Astrid freaking out. The twins rushed to the storehouse on foot, blissfully unaware that it was their dragon that had, albeit unintentionally, caused Astrid to scream.

"Astrid, what happened?" Hiccup asked, holding Astrid by her shoulders to both keep her still and calm her down. "What happened?"

"In there," Astrid said, before she collapsed into Hiccup's arms.

"Astrid's all right, isn't she?" Snotlout asked.

"She's just fainted, but she should be fine once she wakes up," Fishlegs stated, as Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief.

"Astrid said 'In there' just before she fainted, so I'll go and look inside," Hiccup said. He was going to look for a stick to set on fire, but Toothless had already walked into the storehouse, retrieved a piece of shingle that Stormfly had missed while cleaning with Astrid and brought it to Hiccup. "Thanks, bud."

Hiccup took the piece of shingle, had Toothless light it, and walked into the storehouse. "What can you see in there, Hiccup?" Snotlout called. No reply came from either Hiccup or Toothless.

"Are you OK?" Fishlegs shouted. Once again, there was no reply.

"Ugggh, my head hurts," Astrid groaned, having finally woken up. "Where's Hiccup?"

"He went into the storehouse, searching for the thing that made you faint," Ruffnut grinned. "How sweet!"

"Glad I have your approval," Hiccup suddenly said, emerging from the normal-looking storehouse that suddenly, nobody wanted to go near any more. "Ruff, Tuff, I want a word. Why isn't there any food in the storehouse?"

"Why should we know that?" Ruffnut argued.

"It's not like we got rid of it or anything," Tuffnut backed up.

"You got rid of all the food in the storehouse?" Astrid yelled. "We've been storing that for three months!"

"Astrid, the twins didn't get rid of the food," Hiccup revealed, as he opened the storehouse door with a flourish, "their dragon did."

Everyone gasped when they saw Barf and Belch, and with good reason. Their once wiry necks had become as thick as tree branches, as little dimples dotted on their necks betrayed their weight gain. Their legs now they had long stretch marks, a massive increase in girth, and if you stood back far enough, it looked as if their claws were being swallowed up by their own legs. However, it seemed like most of the weight gain had gone to the dragon's stomach. Once flat, it now scraped the ground and actually made it harder for the dragon to walk, since they now had to suck their gut in every time they walked so it didn't scrape along the ground and slow them down. Toothless couldn't help but wonder if their claws were lifted off the ground every time they took a deep breath in.

 **"How much did you eat?"** Meatlug asked.

 **"I think the words 'everything in sight' is a very good answer to that question,"** Hookfang joked.

 **"What were you thinking? That food wasn't put there just for you,"** Toothless scolded. This embarrassed Barf and Belch to no end, and they quickly found some interesting trees to look at. (Actually, they'd be happy to look just about anywhere if it meant they wouldn't see Toothless' green eyes.)

 **"Why did you scare my rider?"** Stormfly asked, letting the spines on her tail stand on end. Barf and Belch winced when they realized how close they were to killing them.

 **"We couldn't see her!"** they whined. **"It's not our fault!"**

 **"Shame you can't use that excuse when it comes to literally all the food we have,"** Toothless sarcastically pointed out, making Barf and Belch hide their faces in shame. **"And it's not going to work with the twins, either."** They wanted to ask what Toothless meant, but the angry voices of their riders made it scarily clear to them.

"That's it, you two!" Tuffnut called. "Did you really think that you could take advantage of our kind, forgiving hearts for so long? I bet that you were only pretending to be tired so you got more fish out of us, didn't you?"

"We are _very_ disappointed in you," Ruffnut glowered, sounding like a stern mother. Barf and Belch could've died on the spot, it was that embarrassing. "When I first realized what you'd done, I was willing to punish you so badly, you two would wish you'd never even looked at that storehouse." At this, the Zippleback was terrified. "But now I realize that you would be better off being helped instead of punished, so I won't do that. Instead, we'll focus on helping you shed all this weight by going on a flight."

 **"What?"** Barf and Belch shrieked, as Hookfang collapsed to the floor laughing at their terrified faces. Toothless couldn't resist snickering too, as the scene was too funny not to laugh at. **"We are not going on a flight we don't need, and you can't make us! No, no, no!"**

* * *

Two hours later, the other dragons watched as Barf and Belch did laps around the Edge. "Pick up the pace! You've got to burn off all the fish you've eaten today!" Ruffnut ordered.

"And that's a lot of fish!" Tuffnut yelled.

 **"You know, I almost felt sorry for those two,"** Stormfly said. **"And then I remember that they're the reason we're all hungry today, and then I don't feel sorry for them anymore."**

 **"Speak for yourself!"** Meatlug protested. **"I'm going to be fine! Not too sure about you, though."**

 **"Oh, who cares?"** Hookfang disagreed, eating some of the fish he'd caught earlier. He wasn't going to go hungry anytime soon. **"We're dragons. We can get our own food if and when we want without having to rely on a stupid storehouse."**

Shaking his head and smiling at the antics of his friends, Toothless settled down to go to sleep, but not before his ears captured some familiar whines.

 **"No more!"** Barf whined.

 **"Let's take a break now, please!"** Belch begged.

Toothless smiled. Those two weren't getting a break anytime soon.

* * *

After Barf and Belch were found in the storehouse, some new rules were made.

No dragons allowed in the storehouse at any time, whether they have human supervision or not.

If your dragon breaks into the storehouse, you have to replace any food they eat and repair any damage made by them.

If your dragon's saddle needs to be repaired/replaced, do it yourself. Thor knows I am tired of doing it for you. (This rules was made by Hiccup, obviously.)

Don't give your dragon food outside of the food they already get. If that happens, they will end up gaining so much weight, they won't be able to fly because they'll be too fat to get off the ground.

The first two rules were blamed on Stormfly, Barf and Belch, since Stormfly was the first dragon to break into the storehouse and Barf and Belch helped them make up their minds. However, it was clear that the other two rules were inspired purely by Barf and Belch. When they were announced, the green Zippleback wanted to die, since if felt like everyone was looking at them.

However, there was a happy ending to this. Barf and Belch eventually got back into shape, and learned a valuable lesson on portion sizes and how trust worked. And after the public humiliation of having to do laps around the Edge while the other dragons were able to see them, they never wanted to take more food then they needed again.


	5. Realization (alternate ending)

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and I never will. All rights go to Dreamworks, who made the movies and the series, and Cressida Cowell, the author of the books. This particular fanfiction, unlike my other HTTYD fanfics so far, is set in the Race To The Edge series.

A/N: this is an alternate ending to _Why, that sneaky Zippleback._ You can read either this chapter or the chapter that came before it. Don't read both, or you'll be really confused. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

The next day, Toothless flew to the clubhouse like nothing weird had happened the night before (because in his mind, taking your rider back to his hut when they'd fallen asleep was normal), but when he got there, he saw Hookfang, Meatlug and Stormfly were staring at him. Hookfang looked like he was holding back laughter, while Meatlug and Stormfly were staring at him adoringly, like he was the cutest hatchling they'd ever seen. **"Umm . . . are you all right?"**

 **"We could ask you the same question. Was it hard opening a door with your tail?"** Hookfang asked, before he burst out laughing. Toothless didn't know what Hookfang meant until he remembered last night. His eyes went wide with shock when he realized that they knew what he'd done for Hiccup, and he felt the room heating up.

 **"He was fast asleep, Hookfang,"** Toothless answered sternly, trying to hide how absolutely mortified he was. **"I'm not letting him sleep in a forge. He could've hurt himself, and I'm not letting that happen."**

 **"Aww, that's so cute,"** Stormfly and Meatlug cooed, making Toothless stick his head in his basket of fish so he didn't have to talk to them.

 _ **Stop, please,**_ Toothless thought, turning red underneath his scales as Hookfang's hysterical laughter rang in his ears louder than any horn ever could. _ **This is embarrassing.**_ Fortunately, Toothless was saved by the Hofferson, who looked none too pleased that Stormfly hadn't finished her breakfast yet. The day she'd seen Stormfly raiding the storehouse and wrecking the roof, she took it upon herself to set it back to its former state, as well as adding a few improvements.

"Stormfly!" Astrid greeted, startling the Deadly Nadder enough for Astrid to duck as a few spines embedded themselves into the walls of the clubhouse. "Why haven't you finished eating? The storehouse still has repairs to be done! I'll wait for you to eat it all up, and then we'll go!"

 **"Not again!"** Stormfly groaned. **"I thought we'd finished last time."** Sighing, she gulped down her chicken as fast as she could without choking and left with Astrid, wishing that she hadn't stolen so much or caused so much damage to the storehouse. Deep down, she knew she'd try this again, and was only saddened that Astrid was so strict about repairing it.

 **"Wow, Stormfly's got herself into some serious trouble now, hasn't she?"** Hookfang snickered. **"Good thing Snotlout's not as bossy."** Just as he said this, Snotlout marched in.

"Hookfang!" Snotlout shouted, making Hookfang's eyes snap open. "We've got a hot tub to dig out, remember?" Instead of obediently eating and leaving the clubhouse when Snotlout asked for him, Hookfang picked him up with his tail, took his sweet time eating breakfast (it was purely to annoy Snotlout) and left, all while Snotlout was attached to his tail like a Snoggletog decoration. Eventually, that left only Toothless and Meatlug in the room.

 **"It's getting rather lonely in here,"** Meatlug moaned. **"Barf and Belch are eating in the storehouse, Hookfang has to help Snotlout with his hot tub thing and Stormfly's helping Astrid repair the storehouse! It won't be long until you're gone, too, and then I'll be all on my own!"**

 **"That's going to be so boring!"** Toothless sympathized, before an idea took place in his mind. **"Wait a minute. If Barf and Belch are in the storehouse, and that's where Astrid and Stormfly are headed right now, you don't think that-"**

A feminine, high-pitched scream could be heard coming from the storehouse.

 **"They haven't-"** Meatlug began.

 **"They have,"** Toothless answered.

* * *

Today had felt like a good day until Astrid walked in. The twins had got them two nets full of fish as a reward for doing such good work, and then left them in the storehouse 'to get their strength back' with all their favourites on display - cod, haddock, salmon, chicken, veal . . .

Naturally, once they'd finished the two catches of fish, they simply had to taste-test all the food they could see in the storehouse. The humans and their dragons would be eating this stuff, too, and neither Barf nor Belch would let their friends eat food that could make them vomit or anything, so they had to get rid of it the only way they knew how.

 **"Oh, that was soooo good,"** they moaned, slumping to the floor once their feast was over. Spying the emergency water Hiccup kept to put out fires, they used the last of their strength to gulp it all down, and collapsed into a food-induced stupor, happily sleeping their 'breakfast' away. They had no idea what was in store for them . . .

* * *

Astrid's day had been normal before she walked into the storehouse. Or, at least, she tried to walk into the storehouse, only to be stopped by a soft, squishy mass on the other side. _Hiccup's new door-stop may be big and heavy, but it doesn't really work,_ she thought, as she pushed her way into the storehouse. Stormfly watched on curiously. What was holding her rider back?

Astrid sighed with relief as the door finally gave way, and massaged the life into her aching biceps as she strode in . . . and immediately tripped on something long and thick and bumpy. "Stormfly, give me some light," Astrid ordered, as Stormfly summoned a mouthful of sparks to light the blonde's way. The room became brighter, and Astrid could now see that the long, bumpy thing were two pieces of rope that seemed to be attached to a couple of lumpy, green barrels and two thick logs. Astrid cursed herself for not bringing a dagger, and pulled on the tail. Slowly, the twin logs moved, and with a sense of dawning realization, Astrid realized that she hadn't just pulled on a piece of rope, she'd pulled a dragon's tail. When she took a closer look at him, she realized that the dragon was actually Barf and Belch, the twins' Zippleback.

She screamed and rushed out of the storehouse, Stormfly in tow.

Everyone rushed to the storehouse when they heard the scream. Hookfang scooped up Snotlout and took off. Hiccup and Fishlegs rushed to get Toothless and Meatlug so they could see what had Astrid freaking out. The twins rushed to the storehouse on foot, blissfully unaware that it was their dragon that had, albeit unintentionally, caused Astrid to scream.

"Astrid, what happened?" Hiccup asked, holding Astrid by her shoulders to both keep her still and calm her down. "What happened?"

"In there," Astrid said, before she collapsed into Hiccup's arms.

"Astrid's all right, isn't she?" Snotlout asked.

"She's just fainted, but she should be fine once she wakes up," Fishlegs stated, as Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief.

"Astrid said 'In there' just before she fainted, so I'll go and look inside," Hiccup said. He was going to look for a stick to set on fire, but Toothless had already walked into the storehouse, retrieved a piece of shingle that Stormfly had missed while cleaning with Astrid and brought it to Hiccup. "Thanks, bud."

Hiccup took the piece of shingle, had Toothless light it, and walked into the storehouse. "What can you see in there, Hiccup?" Snotlout called. No reply came from either Hiccup or Toothless.

"Are you OK?" Fishlegs shouted. Once again, there was no reply.

"Ugggh, my head hurts," Astrid groaned, having finally woken up. "Where's Hiccup?"

"He went into the storehouse, searching for the thing that made you faint," Ruffnut grinned. "How sweet!"

"Glad I have your approval," Hiccup suddenly said, emerging from the normal-looking storehouse that suddenly, nobody wanted to go near any more. "Ruff, Tuff, I want a word. Why isn't there any food in the storehouse?"

"Why should we know that?" Ruffnut argued.

"It's not like we got rid of it or anything," Tuffnut backed up.

"You got rid of all the food in the storehouse?" Astrid yelled. "We've been storing that for three months!"

"Astrid, the twins didn't get rid of the food," Hiccup revealed, as he opened the storehouse door with a flourish, "their dragon did."

Everyone gasped when they saw Barf and Belch, and with good reason. Their once wiry necks had become as thick as tree branches, as little dimples dotted on their necks betrayed their weight gain. Their legs now they had long stretch marks, a massive increase in girth, and if you stood back far enough, it looked as if their claws were being swallowed up by their own legs. However, it seemed like most of the weight gain had gone to the dragon's stomach. Once flat, it now scraped the ground and actually made it harder for the dragon to walk, since they now had to suck their gut in every time they walked so it didn't scrape along the ground and slow them down. Toothless couldn't help but wonder if their claws were lifted off the ground every time they took a deep breath in.

 **"How much did you eat?"** Meatlug asked.

 **"I think the words 'everything in sight' is a very good answer to that question,"** Hookfang joked.

 **"What were you thinking? That food wasn't put there just for you,"** Toothless scolded. This embarrassed Barf and Belch to no end, and they quickly found some interesting trees to look at. (Actually, they'd be happy to look just about anywhere if it meant they wouldn't see Toothless' green eyes.)

 **"Why did you scare my rider?"** Stormfly asked, letting the spines on her tail stand on end. Barf and Belch winced when they realized how close they were to killing them.

 **"We couldn't see her!"** they whined. **"It's not our fault!"**

 **"Shame you can't use that excuse when it comes to literally all the food we have,"** Toothless sarcastically pointed out, making Barf and Belch hide their faces in shame. **"And it's not going to work with the twins, either."** They wanted to ask what Toothless meant, but the angry voices of their riders made it scarily clear to them.

"That's it, you two!" Tuffnut called. "Did you really think that you could take advantage of our kind, forgiving hearts for so long? I bet that you were only pretending to be tired so you got more fish out of us, didn't you?"

"We are _very_ disappointed in you," Ruffnut glowered, sounding like a stern mother. Barf and Belch could've died on the spot, it was that embarrassing. "When I first realized what you'd done, I was willing to punish you so badly, you two would wish you'd never even looked at that storehouse." At this, the Zippleback was terrified. "But now I realize that you would be better off being helped instead of punished, so I won't do that. Instead, we'll focus on helping you shed all this weight by going on a flight."

 **"What?"** Barf and Belch shrieked, as Hookfang collapsed to the floor laughing at their terrified faces. Toothless couldn't resist snickering too, as the scene was too funny not to laugh at. **"We are not going on a flight we don't need, and you can't make us! No, no, no!"** And with that, they took off, flying very, very slowly towards some islands inhabited exclusively by other Zipplebacks. They knew they could get lots of food there.

* * *

At sunset, they came back to the Edge only to find everyone working really hard to replace all the food they ate earlier. They felt really guilty, and they tried to get the attention of the other dragons, but they were ignored. They were very, very embarrassed that they had left when there was so much work to be done, so they tried to help out as much as they could. When they tried to take a cart of freshly picked forest fruits from Astrid, she batted them away, and made a show of being able to handle the cart on her own. They also tried to say hello to the other dragons, but they carried on like they weren't there at all. What was going on?

"Alright, guys, lets take all this to the storehouse; we'll continue tomorrow," Hiccup announced. There were shouts of "Finally!" and "Thought you'd never say that!" as everyone finished what they were doing and retired to their huts for the night. Eventually, there was nobody there except Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Barf and Belch. The twins still hadn't finished, and so were left behind by the others.

 **"We found the twins! Finally!"** they cheered, nuzzling the twins happily. The twins smiled and hugged them back.

"We haven't seen you in a while!" Ruffnut cooed. "You must be tired, aren't you? Let's get you out of that horrible, tight, saddle before you go to sleep. Tuff, take these. They need to be repaired." (The saddles were perfectly fine.)

"Got it," Tuffnut replied, dutifully taking the saddles to Hiccup's forge . . . where Hiccup slipped lead weights into both of them. "Are you sure this will work?" he asked Hiccup. "We don't know what to do. Barf and Belch usually love flights, or at least Barf does. Belch isn't so keen."

"Positive. If Barf and Belch suddenly thought they couldn't fly because they were too heavy, they'd do anything to get rid of it, right?" Hiccup rationalized. "Although I've got to warn you, though, make sure they wear the lead bars in their saddles for about a week. They might suspect something if they can't fly one minute, but can fly later the same day." Tuffnut nodded and took the now heavier saddles.

Toothless and the other dragons, minus Barf and Belch, were a safe distance away from the forge, meaning they could see and hear everything, but Hiccup and Tuffnut had no clue they were there. **"This is going to be good,"** Toothless grinned.

 **"Of course it will! It involves a forge!"** Hookfang argued.

 **"How long will it take for Barf and Belch to completely freak out?"** Stormfly asked.

 **"Not long,"** Meatlug answered. **"Sometimes the shock tactic works best with cases like this, especially if they're in denial."**

 **"Who are you, where do you come from and what have you done with Meatlug?"** Toothless, Hookfang and Stormfly asked.

 **"Oh, stop whining,"** Meatlug said, nuzzling all three like they were hatchlings, which was a little embarrassing for them. They were lucky nobody else was there. **"You can find out tomorrow, OK? Hookfang, Stormfly, I'm taking you back to your rider's huts. They'll be worried if they realize that you're missing."**

 **"What?"** they protested, as Toothless forced his laughter back down his throat. **"Why aren't you taking Toothless with you?"**

 **"Leave me out of this one,"** Toothless answered. **"I'm supposed to be here waiting for Hiccup, so Hiccup and Tuffnut won't look twice. If you're here waiting for Hiccup and Tuffnut, they'll definitely look twice."**

 **"Why, you smug little-"** Hookfang growled, before he was restrained by Meatlug.

 **"Shut. Up."** Meatlug hissed. Hookfang was so shocked at the tone of voice Meatlug used that he actually shut up, just in time to hear what Hiccup was about to say.

"So, we'll all get to see if your plan works, right?" Hiccup asked, as Tuffnut left the forge.

"Of course," Tuffnut replied, struggling slightly as he adjusted to the new weight of the saddles. He went scarily close to where the dragons were hiding, so they had to leave quickly, so they weren't noticed, except Toothless, who quickly fell to the ground and pretended to be asleep. Tuffnut walked about five yards away from the forge, before turning to look at Toothless' supposedly 'sleeping' form. "Toothless, were there any other dragons here? I could've sworn I heard three dragons flying away in a hurry." Toothless ignored him and continued to feign sleep. "Oh, yeah, if there were any other dragons, you'd be wide awake. See ya, T."

Once Tuffnut had left, Toothless opened one eye, then the other. **"Time to stop pretending now,"** he muttered to himself, as he stretched out like a cat and walked into the forge.

"Hey, Toothless," Hiccup greeted. "How'd you sleep? Oh wait, I forgot, you didn't." Toothless' eyes went wide with realization as Hiccup grinned. "Oh yeah. I saw you, Stormfly, Hookfang and Meatlug outside the forge. Don't think I didn't see you."

* * *

The next day, everyone had an uneventful breakfast and (for some reason) was looking forward to finding out which jobs they were getting. **"How'd you think they'll react?"** Toothless whispered to Stormfly.

 **"How'd you think who'll react?"** Barf asked. Toothless gulped when he realized who was talking. **"Well?"**

 **"I was wondering how the twins will react when they realize that Astrid can tell the difference between them and the dummies they put in the watchtower,"** Toothless quickly lied. He didn't want to tell Barf and Belch about the plan Hiccup and Tuffnut had made. **"Just because they have the twins' helmets doesn't mean she'll think it's them, does it?"**

 **"I know, right?"** Belch cut in, while all the other dragons breathed a sigh of relief that they hadn't been outed. **"Those dummies of theirs can't even move. Astrid will definitely notice."** And with that, Barf and Belch left to find the twins. Toothless noticed that they had no saddles, but paid little attention to it, since that meant the twins had them. This was proven when they saw Ruffnut and Tuffnut struggling with a now considerably heavier saddle.

"How are you, misters!" Ruffnut cooed, rubbing Barf's jaw with one hand while attaching the saddle to their necks with the other. Tuffnut was doing the same thing to Belch, using their bliss to distract them from the saddles, which they didn't notice until they were wearing them.

"We're going on a flight today to look for some herbs that Fishlegs needs," Tuffnut explained, wearing the same deliriously happy expression on his face as his sister. "I hope you don't mind the adjustments we made to your saddles."

 **"That can be overlooked,"** Belch said, who was smiling happily.

 **"No harm done," Barf chirped happily.**

"Well, you seem to be happy. How's about we go for a quick flight?" Tuffnut decided.

 **"Provided that they can get off the ground, of course,"** Hookfang snickered. Toothless tail-slapped him. **"Ow!"**

Barf and Belch, oblivious to Hookfang's comment, growled happily to signify that they wanted to go for a flight. "Then let's go!"

The twins mounted Barf and Belch's considerably thicker necks (which they struggled to fit their legs around) and Barf and Belch took off. Or at least, tried to. They attempted to take off four more times, before the twins sighed and dismounted.

"Sorry, buddy, but it seems you're unable to fly," Tuffnut said sadly. "I'm sorry. I just wish I'd taken you on more flights. Then this would never have happened to you."

"Now we'll have to fly with another dragon," Ruffnut sobbed.

Barf and Belch were horrified. They didn't want to lose the ability to fly. They checked the rocks around them, looked at the twins' distraught faces - and that was when they finally realized their own weight gain that they had denied for so long.

 **"Oh, no,"** Barf whispered to Belch, **"we've become so fat, the twins can't go on flights with us any more because we can't get off the ground. What do we do?"**

 **"We become skinnier, of course,"** Belch answered, firmly. **"Let's do laps around the Edge until sunset."**

 **"Great!"** Barf answered optimistically. **"We're starting right now!"** And with that, they ran off . . . very, very slowly. Meatlug could've beaten them.

Once they were sure that Barf and Belch were gone, the twins ditched the we're-doomed appearance and straightened up. Hiccup grinned, and the dragons burst into howls of laughter. **"Oh, this is priceless,"** Toothless laughed, collapsing to the floor with mirth. **"I can't believe that worked."**

 **"I told you shock tactics were effective!"** Meatlug gloated.

 **"The looks on their faces!"** Hookfang grinned.

 **"This is just too funny!"** Stormfly giggled.

"Uh, Ruff, Tuff, what are you going to do now you have no dragon?" Hiccup asked.

"We'll stay at the watchtower and see if Viggo's approaching," Tuffnut asked, punching his sister in the ribs to get her on board. "I'm sure Astrid can't tell the difference between us and the Scareships we made," he whispered.

"It's genius!" Ruffnut quietly replied.

"That's great!" Astrid said. "But don't try to use the old dummy trick again. I can tell the difference very easily."

"What!" the twins yelped, groaning when they realized that they signed up for the most boring job they could get, and they didn't have an escape route. Astrid smirked, and Toothless nudged the other dragons as if to say 'I told you so'.

* * *

Later, a little while after lunch, Toothless, Hookfang, Stormfly and Meatlug watched as Barf and Belch did laps around the Edge. **"How long will they keep this up?"** Stormfly asked. **"I'm getting dizzy just watching them."**

 **"They said they'd do this until sunset,"** Hookfang answered. **"And I'm going to stay here to see if they keep their word. This is just too funny!"**

 **"Oh, now I'm worried about them,"** Meatlug fretted. **"They don't show any signs of stopping and they haven't eaten all day. They didn't even stop for lunch. They love lunch!"**

 **"Weren't you the one telling us that shock tactics worked best with cases like theirs?"** Toothless reminded her, as Hookfang and Stormfly laughed. **"This is your chance to prove yourself right. Use it wisely."**

 **"You know, I still can't believe that Barf and Belch got caught in the storehouse,"** Stormfly mentioned. **"I figured they'd be at least smart enough to get out in time."**

 **"I said the same thing about you, Stormfly, you have no room to talk,"** Hookfang interjected, as Toothless grinned devilishly and the two of them touched wings. (Basically the dragon equivalent of a fist-bump).

 **"Shut up!"** Stormfly moaned, hurling spikes at the pair and giggling as they yelped and ducked for cover. **"Aw, you're so sweet when you're terrified out of your wits. In fact, you two look absolutely adorable! Awww!"**

 **"Hookfang, are all females unpredictable and crazy, or does that just apply to dragon females?"** Toothless whispered.

 **"All females, Toothless,"** Hookfang answered wisely, **"all females."**

* * *

Ten days passed, and over the course of those ten days, every human and dragon on the Edge got to see Barf and Belch diligently running laps around the Edge. Once those ten days were up, the dragons saw an improvement in them. Their stomach wasn't touching the ground anymore. Their necks were a lot thinner, causing the saddle to literally hang off them. True, they weren't as skinny as they were when they first started stealing extra portions of food, but they were getting there. On the eleventh day, Tuffnut paid a ridiculously early visit to the forge and had Hiccup remove the lead weights in their saddles and doctor the saddles so nobody could tell what they did to it. "It worked like a charm," Tuffnut gloated. "Thanks for the help, Hiccup."

"It's nothing," Hiccup downplayed. "It was your plan anyway."

"I still want to thank you for helping, though," Tuffnut answered. "Chicken and I have gotten a better night's sleep after this knowing that my dragon will soon be leading a better lifestyle. Anyway, I need to find Barf and Belch so we can go on a flight. Seen them anywhere?"

 **"You called?"** Barf and Belch chorused, running over to the storehouse. They still didn't believe that they could fly after the 'revelation' they'd had a while back, so they didn't, just in case.

 **"Tuffnut!"** Belch called, happily nuzzling his rider. Barf, however, was kind of disappointed.

 **"Where's Ruffnut?"** Barf sulked, looking at the ground until Ruffnut walked in. **"Ruffnut! You're here!"**

"Happy to see you too," Ruffnut cooed, smiling as she mounted Barf for a flight. Tuffnut did the same with Belch. "Wanna go for a flight?"

 **"But what if we still can't fly?"** Barf whispered to Belch. "I don't want to disappoint them again."

 **"It's the moment of truth,"** Belch muttered, secretly terrified out of his wits. Having absolutely no clue whether they'd be successful or not, they walked a decent way away from the forge, took off into the air . . . and stayed there.

 **"We're flying? We're flying!"** they cheered, doing loop-the-loops with joy.

"You've lost weight! You really have!" Tuffnut cheered, rubbing Belch's head happily.

"We're so proud of you," Ruffnut purred. Barf and Belch couldn't help but feel happy and proud of themselves for doing what they set out to do. But they had to keep going if they wanted to get back to what they were like before they started sneaking food, so they weren't done. Not yet.

* * *

Barf and Belch got back to what they were like before they got fat, but they still had to deal with a lot of teasing from the other dragons for being able to clear out the entire storehouse. (Barf and Belch became very good at tail-slapping people, mostly Snotlout, and Hookfang if he was smug enough to bring it up.) Toothless still kept an eye on them, though, but that would end up being in vain, since Barf and Belch never stole food again.


End file.
